John Gee discusses the signifcance of Abraham 1:12, 14 as insertions.

Date
2017
Type
Academic / Technical Report
Source
John Gee
LDS
Hearsay
Direct
Secondary
Reference

John Gee, An Introduction to the Book of Abraham (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center; Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book, 2017), 143–144

Scribe/Publisher
BYU Religious Studies Center
People
John Gee
Audience
Reading Public
PDF
Transcription

Since the papyri come from the Ptolemaic period, about 1,500 years after Abraham, the style of the pictures will not have been the same style as was current in Abraham’s day. Abraham may not have included any illustrations in his original account. The references to the facsimiles within the text of the Book of Abraham seem to have been nineteenth-century editorial insertions. The earliest manuscript we have shows that the phrase “I will refer you to the representation that is at the commencement of this record” from Abraham 1:12 was squished in two lines of smaller handwriting in the space at the end of the paragraph between Abraham 1:12 and 1:13. Similarly, Abraham 1:14 was added in a smaller hand squeezed into the margin at the top of the page, above the header, ignoring the ruled left margin. The Book of Abraham actually reads smoothly without these additions. Thus, these statements in the text seem to be nineteenth-century additions approved by, if not made by, Joseph Smith.

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